


Tonight I Could Fall Too Soon

by DeyaAmaya



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AFTG Valentine's Day Exchange 2020, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Exy (All For The Game), Blind Date, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22892725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeyaAmaya/pseuds/DeyaAmaya
Summary: It's Valentine's day. Andrew and Kevin have been set up on blind dates with each other, but they were both hoping to date someone else. A red haired, blue eyed someone else.Or,In which Neil is a broke art student who calls Andrew 'Buff Goth' and Kevin loves the colour pink.
Relationships: Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 8
Kudos: 191
Collections: AFTG Exchange, AFTG Exchange Valentine's Day 2020





	Tonight I Could Fall Too Soon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleWonderly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleWonderly/gifts).



> LittleWonderly, belated Valentine's greetings! Thank you for your patience. I picked Kandreil and blind dating from your prompts. Though I'm not well versed in Kandreil, I hope this is alright.
> 
> Also, many, many thanks to Leahlisabeth for the beta at such a weird time. You're doing a splendid job with the exchange, as always 💕

At the heart of Palmetto, there is a cafe named “Fennec”, which was a very peculiar name for a cafe. Unlike the Starbucks and Dunkin’s that were buzzing with people from late night to early morning, Fennec conducted business only after 4 pm and tended to wrap up around 10:30. 

As a cafe, it was quite useless, Neil Josten mused. People who were looking for a caffeine hit to go back to their late-night thesis writing would find the place empty. Anyone who couldn’t function before 8 without espresso would be disappointed. Yet, the place somehow had a loyal customer base and did pretty well for itself. Their waffles were very popular. 

The one thing more vexing about the cafe’s timing was its colour. It was an awful, garish pink. Why, Neil had no idea. Fennec foxes were definitely not pink. When asked, the owner had simply said, “My son was going through a pink phase when I bought this place,” and left it at that. To be honest, Kevin still wore a lot of pink.

Neil’s hands itched to paint something else on the walls, anything else. But between painting for class, painting commissions for money and making coffee for the Fennec, he hardly had any time left at all. Summer was fast approaching, he thought. He’d surely get it done then. 

One fine evening, Fennec was more pink than usual. Not only the walls, but the tables were also draped in pink. The old laminated menus were put away; in their place were cheap pink printouts that only boasted a handful of drinks and two waffles. Spangly heart cutouts hung everywhere, and even the number of customers wearing pink seemed unusually high. One look at the menu confirmed his suspicion. It was Valentine's day. Yuck. 

As he made drinks and made small talk, Neil imagined one of his regulars, Buff Goth, in pink. He always came in around 7, ordered the chocolate canon cheesecake and ate the sticky sweet dessert with a straight face. It was probably his dinner. How he ate that sugary monstrosity every single day and still stayed in shape, Neil had no idea. Frankly, the sight made him nauseous sometimes. The man always gave a different name for his drinks and Neil had started calling him Buff Goth in his head. 

7 pm rolled around and, as Neil took a break from making red velvet waffles for gaggles of giggling schoolgirls, he spotted Buff Goth on a table next to a window. It was amusing to see him, in all black as usual, sitting amid a shop full of pastel colours. What was unusual was the man sitting across from him, the owner’s son, Kevin.

And they were both looking right at Neil, well, until they realised Neil was staring right back. They scrambled to look away, Buff Goth out of the window and Kevin at the paper menu. Neil could see the pink staining Buff Goth’s ears. 

Neil’s hands automatically went to his scarred cheek. Most people pointed at his face, whispering behind their hands and passing off-hand remarks. Neil let those slide. But from Kevin, and from his most loyal customer, it stung more than it should’ve. 

They did not have any drinks or desserts in front of them, so Neil decided to go and take their orders. 

\----------------

This was a disaster, a fucking disaster. 

“Look, Kent-”

“Kevin,” the man sitting in front of him grumbled. “My name’s Kevin.”   
  
“Whatever, Kevin, look. You’re very attractive, a lot more attractive than the usual men I pull. Any other day, I would’ve taken you into the cafe’s loo and blown you but, today,” Andrew rubbed a hand over his face, “I really wasn’t expecting you. When my cousin said he was setting me up on a blind date at the Fennec, I was 100% hoping it would be Josten.”   
  
Understanding lit up Kevin’s eyes (so green, holy shit). He thumped his head against the windowsill. “Me too, honestly. When Dan told me… I was totally expecting to sit down with Neil. I’m not saying you’re not great as well,” he hurried to add. “I’ve been to every one of your games, you’re the best goalie there is. It’s just,” he looked embarrassed, “I’ve had a crush on Neil forever. He’s so-”

Kevin trailed off and looked at the kitchen door swinging open. Neil Josten walked out. One look at Kevin’s dreamy face was enough to confirm Andrew’s suspicion. 

They were both heads over heels for the redhead.

“This is a pickle,” Andrew told Kevin. 

“I know,” Kevin said hopelessly.

As if he could hear their conversation, Neil looked up and right at Andrew’s table.  _ Retreat _ , Andrew’s brain screamed. As he pretended to watch the people milling outside, he could see out of the corner of his eye that Kevin was intently looking at the tacky menu. A set of footsteps stopped behind their table. 

“Hello, Kevin,” Neil said. “Have you decided what you’d like to order?”

A fuck bomb went off inside Andrew’s mind, and in Kevin’s too, judging from the fumbling answer he gave.

“Come on Kevin,” Neil said drily, “your dad’s the owner of this goddamn cafe; you know very well we don’t sell healthy smoothies here. Why don’t you order something disgustingly sweet, like this guy?”

Andrew looked up, and Neil was looking right at him.

“It’s not on the menu today,” he said evasively. 

“No worries, I saved you one,” Neil said cheerfully. He had a smile on his face. Why does he have a smile on his face? Andrew was about to lose his goddamn mind.

Oh, wait, that happened months ago, when he first met Neil Josten. 

“Neil, I-” Kevin stuttered and looked at Andrew. “We have something to tell you...ask you.”   
  
_ This cannot be good,  _ Andrew's mind helpfully supplied.

“We, I mean, Andrew and I, we both want to date you. Would you do us a favour and choose?”

Kevin didn’t realise how loud he’d been. His words made the whole cafe go silent for a second before it was buzzing with scandalous whispers. 

Neil was silent, his smile gone. His hand rose to rub against the mottled burn scar on his cheek. 

“Kevin,” he started “that’s not funny. You shouldn’t- I know I’m your dad’s charity project. But I don’t want you to date me out of pity.”

His words were cold and forced out through his teeth. As Kevin and Andrew both stared at him, he turned to leave. Andrew caught hold of his sleeve. 

“Wait,” he said. “Wait, Neil.”

“I’m not joking, not at all,” Kevin pleaded. “I’ve wanted to date you for months. Dan set me up with a blind date with Andrew here but I was really, really hoping it would be you. It’s the truth.”   
  
Neil still looked uncertain. 

“Hi, I’m Andrew Minyard,” Andrew told him mildly, watching him blink at the information. “It’s a bad time, mediocre place, and shitty company,” he ignored Kevin’s indignant  _ hey _ , “but I would really like to date you.”

Neil looked between them. “You- Both?- But?- You know I’m Ace, right?” he looked at Kevin. “I don’t really swing. And I- I don’t know? Do I have to choose?”

“You… want to date both of us?” Andrew’s surprised but he likes the sound of it. 

“I mean, that’s one way to go about it?” Kevin looked doubtful, but not unhappy. 

“Is that a thing?” Neil still didn’t look like he believed it. “You’re both willing to date me?”

“And each other,” Kevin said with a sideways glance at Andrew. “I’m all for it. Andrew?”

“Yeah, why not?” Andrew was sure he looked as bemused as the other two. Kevin pulled out a chair for Neil. 

“Sit,” he said. “You’re on a date. I’ll get one of the others to get our orders.”   
  
Neil smiled sweetly, and as Kevin walked up to the counter, he turned his blue, blue eyes to Andrew. 

“So, Andrew, huh? Is that your real name or will that change tomorrow?”

Andrew felt a rare smile tugging his lips upwards.

Okay, this wasn’t such a disaster, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on tumblr! I'm andreil-minyasten


End file.
